School is in Session, Would You Go In-person?
10 min read with Video
As part of our Navigating to a New Normal longitudinal study, we asked participants a series of Would You…? questions to get a read on people’s comfort levels. Would you go to a movie theater? Would you get a vaccine? Would you go to in-person class? This the first of three installments and focuses on the idea of necessary gatherings.
Necessary Gatherings
School is in session, people are commuting, offices are opening up. If you’re reading this from a personal perspective, what would you want your school experience to look like? What about a bus ride? How would the experience influence your decision making?
From a business perspective, what factors are informing your decision making around opening up your business or office? What are you doing to ensure people feel comfortable?
Would you go to a classroom?
Most participants felt that classroom risks were too great - people could do something foolish, the space is small, the length of time in class is long.
IMPLICATIONS:
Whether you have kids returning to a classroom or not, school is a model for how to open up gathering spaces. Therefore, we can apply classroom concerns to office and shopping environments. For example, if your office space is open or planning to open, tell people exactly how you are keeping them safe – not just hygiene protocols but how you are ensuring no one “does anything stupid”, etc. Right now, you can’t over-communicate the safety protocols you have in place. Unknowns lead to lower comfort levels.
“No. I’ve seen videos. People act stupid. They want to cough. They want to be the attention-seeker. They want to do all the dumb stuff you don’t find funny.”
Would you ride on a bus or subway?
Trusting the cleaning process was a huge concern for participants.
IMPLICATIONS:
For those individuals that rely on public transportation to get to work or shop, this is a major barrier. As a business, what could you do to allay people’s fears or give them alternatives to mass transit? Discounts for bike rentals, walk-to-work days, pop-up changing rooms are all ways to directly address concerns. For shopping environments, how can you make that fun and safe for people to get to? Could you offer a free messenger-style tote to cart around their purchases, free delivery, etc.?
“They can tell me they clean it five times a day. I don’t believe that they clean it though.”
Would you go to a cafeteria?
Most participants were not interested in eating at a sneeze-guard style cafeteria, but a few were open to a restaurant-style experience.
IMPLICATIONS:
Cafeterias are a mainstay of schools and offices. But their sneeze-guard, salad bar stereotype creates fear. But is the stereotype accurate? Many cafeterias nowadays have a take-out restaurant style element (and are not all self-serve). How could you allay people’s fears by focusing on the serving experience?
While the answers to these “Would you …?” questions may shift over time, we know that people are currently risk-averse when it comes to necessary gatherings. They need reassurance that precautions are being taken to make things safe.
For more Navigating to a New Normal insights read …
